Out and About

Future proofing community policing

The stark difference between the dated brick building of the old Werribee Police Station and the new state-of-the-art Werribee Police Complex is a fitting representation of how the community and policing in the area has changed over the years.

The front of the new complex.

The front of the old police station.

The City of Wyndham, the council area Werribee falls within, today has a population of nearly 303,000 and is among the fastestgrowing local government areas (LGAs) in Victoria.

With about 19,000 new residents moving to the region each year, it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon and the City of Wyndham Council expects the population to be more than 500,000 by 2041.

Werribee Senior Sergeant Stephen O'Connell knows firsthand just how rapidly the area is growing.

Not only has he worked at the station for more than a decade, he has been a resident of Werribee for just as long.

“There’s a new housing development popping up every week it seems, bringing more and more residents to the area,” Sen Sgt Cooper said.

“As the population grows, so does the amount of work for police in the area.

“When I first started at Werribee, we probably got half the jobs through in a shift that we do now, and it continues to grow each year.”

Adapting to the increasing workload has meant Werribee has become home to more policing units over the years, covering a range of specialist areas.

The brand new, state-of-the-art Werribee Police Complex, which opened in July, now houses local uniform police along with specialist family violence, sexual offences and crime investigation units.

“With such a large population, we see all ranges of crimes in the area and we now have all of our policing resources in the one place, which makes it easier for them to collaborate to best investigate all types of crime,” Sen Sgt O'Connell said.

In addition to being a large community, Sen Sgt Cooper also noted that the diversity of the community adds another point of difference to policing in the area.

City of Wyndham Council statistics show that almost half of all residents in the LGA were born overseas, coming from 162 different countries.

The LGA also has the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Greater Melbourne.

“It’s important for us to ensure we are working with all these different cultural communities to address their needs, issues or concerns regarding criminal activity,” Sen Sgt O'Connell said.

“Having people come from such diverse backgrounds means there are many different views on police and we work hard to embed ourselves in these communities to let them know we are here to help them should they ever need us.”

Senior Sergeant Vanessa Tzounos said the new complex — which was funded as part of the 2017-18 state budget — provides outstanding facilities to help police in their duties and that the development and design were done with the community front of mind.

“The local management here was very involved in the design of the new complex and worked hard to make sure it was a facility that would best serve our diverse, growing community for years to come,” Sen Sgt Tzounos said.

“We wanted to create a more open and welcoming environment to foster more opportunities for the community to interact with police and help shape local priorities.”

Sen Sgt O'Connell said every day he goes to work he has one goal in mind. “I’m passionate about making Werribee the best, safest place it can be,” he said.

“As someone who lives in this community and is raising my children in this community, I have a vested interest in ensuring we are providing policing that is inclusive and accessible and that the community trusts.

“That is the message the management makes clear to every member who walks through the doors here, whatever their rank or position.”

Images Connected team The new Werribee Police Complex has been designed with the diverse community in mind and provides a modern, future-proofed facility to help local police continue to best serve the growing population.